//------------------------------// // Reunions // Story: On to a New Plane // by random reader //------------------------------// Celestia watched as the biped who had just introduced himself as “Changpu” drew upon the pad in front of him. An image was starting to take form upon the page of what looked like a miniature depiction of herself as well as one of the biped’s standing next to a hole in the ground, as well as an arrow pointing upwards out of the hole. Then, Changpu pointed at the drawing of the biped. “James,” he said, then pointed at the picture of Celestia before saying “Celestia.” “Yes, he was the one who brought me out of the tunnel.” said Celestia, knowing that Changpu probably couldn’t understand what she was saying. However, he did at least seem to understand that she was affirming his statement, and looked happier because of it. Just then, the door to the room opened, and the older biped, Donavan walked back inside. He said some things to the other three present, and they all looked surprised. The female, Judith, said something while sounding angry, a sharp inflection in her voice. Had something gone wrong? Was there an emergency? James asked a question to his commanding officer, and he responded, and then pointed at Celestia. “Celestia,” he said, then pointed at himself “Donavan,” then he made a gesture that looked like two legs walking towards something, and then pointed at the picture that Changpu had drawn of the hole. What did that mean? The legs walking looked like how there people moved around, was it their symbol for walking, or travel perhaps? If that was so, Donavan wanted to take her back to the portal leading back to Equestria. Finally! Now Celestia could bring Donavan to Equestria and hopefully help him understand the situation a little better. Celestia stood up, and walked over to the door, and looked expectantly at Donavan. The aged biped quickly got up, and opened the door for her. “Are we there yet?” asked a grumpy sounding Rainbow Dash, as the group of 18 ponies made its way across the landscape, sticking right next to the black pathway. “Do we look like we’re in a town, Rainbow?” snapped Twilight, losing patience with both her friend, and this broken world. The group hadn’t seen any more of those large steel machines carrying those bipedal creatures any more, which was fortunate, because Twilight thought they didn’t need to attract any more attention to themselves. “Ugh, I hate not being able to fly. If I could, I bet I’d have already found the princess, and we would be back home now.” said Rainbow, looking at the grass as she plodded along. “I agree Rainbow, I don’t like being cut off from my magic like this. I keep trying to use it instinctively, but then remember that I haven’t got it anymore.” said Twilight, looking over her shoulder to her prismatic friend, “But don’t forget, this won’t take long, I hope.” “Well can we maybe stop to rest sometime soon? My legs are getting sore, and I’m getting hungry.” replied Rainbow Dash. “That is a good idea Rainbow,” said Twilight, “but I haven’t brought anything to eat or make camp with.” “If I may, Princess Sparkle,” one of the night guards had stepped forwards, “I have brought provisions for the whole group to last us a few days. We can set up camp whenever you would like.” Twilight then noticed that two of the guards were wearing heavily laden saddlebags in addition to their armor. “Alright. We’ll stop to rest here. Maybe we can pick up some clues while we rest up.” The night guard nodded to the one behind him with the saddle bags, and he put them on the ground. He then withdrew a box of tinder and a piece of flint. Seeing this, another guard went to a nearby tree, and began grabbing some of the fallen branches in his teeth before dragging them back to the group. Within just a few minutes, the campfire was built, and the main six were huddled around it, roasting some sweet peppers on sticks over the fire. “Pinkie, are you alright?” asked Twilight, looking over at her pink friend. “Of course I’m alright, Twilight. I mean, apart from the whole, lack of magic thing, I feel super!” replied Pinkie. “It’s just that, you’ve been so quiet this whole time. I was wondering if there was something bothering you.” said Twilight, noting that her other friends were paying close attention as well. “There’s nothing wrong, Twilight, really. My mind is just unusually quite here. I guess I just don’t have much to say right now. That’s not a bad thing, right?” asked Pinkie. “No, of course not, Pinkie. I was just curious is all.” Just then, another one of those metal rolling machines appeared over the crest of the next hill. This one looked slightly different than the others Twilight had seen, it was much shorter than the other behemoths Twilight had seen moving along the path, and Twilight could just make out a rack of what looked like glass cubes sitting on top of it. The sharp glare of the electric lights momentarily blinded Twilight as it approached, but is it was about to pass them by, it began to slow down. The twelve night guards withdrew their small daggers from sheathes in their armor, as they made themselves ready for a potential fight, but the machine just rolled off to the side of the road where it came to a complete stop. Twilight squinted towards the thing, not able to see much through the haze of dusk, but she could definitely tell there was motion inside of it. Suddenly, one of its doors burst open, and out stepped… “Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted, as she saw the tall white form of her old mentor straighten up, now free of the confines of the machine. Celestia looked over and spotted her old student. “Twilight! I’m glad to see you.” Celestia said, trotting over the pathway until she reached the camp on the other side. The two shared a brief nuzzle before Twilight asked the question that was on everypony’s minds. “Are you alright?” she asked, not caring about how obvious the answer apparently was, as Celestia stood before her, undamaged. “Yes, I’m fine, Twilight. I’d like you all to meet my new acquaintance, Donavan.” said Celestia, looking back and gesturing towards the bipedal figure who had emerged from the vehicle as well, as was looking quite perplexed by the whole scene.